MA: Regional Budget (In the works)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Okay, after talks with Tmth, I'm attempting to get more involved here.

First off, I'm a bit confused as to how this works, as it seems that Badger, instead of calculating the tax rates of the Mid-East region, it seems you are calculating the real life tax rates/spending of the states that the Mid-East region would occupy if in real life. Is this true? I'm trying to understand how this works.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

So, looking over the thread, it seems that the number that we have is either 76.4 billion, or 163.75 billion. However, the second numer is the number you mentioned that we'd save. I'm trying to figure out from what the rest of you are saying, how much we have to spend here.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

This is a quote from my re-election thread where A-Bob asked about ideas for balancing the budget. I'm no expert on what's expected where, but there were things that I had questions on or believed un-necessary.

What specific cuts would you make in the budget and/or tax increases to make up for our projected budget shortfall?

I decided to go over the budget and see what was going on. I came up with two categories for the things I wrote down: "What is this?", and "What is oure role in this?" I'd appreciate an amount of explanation for category one, and an a reason why we're funding category two.

What is this?
Updating Energy Infrastructure
I'm wondering what that means and how it translates into action.

What is oure role in this?
Mental health and substance abuse (Is the reason we're paying for this crime control, or general humanitarianism?)
Agricultural research (It's probably normal for a government to fund research, but why?)
Crop Insurance (Are there private agencies for this? Do people pay, or do they get it for free?)
Fund for alternative energy (Again, I know most government fund this, but why? I'd at least consider leaving it up to private enterprise to research)
Vocational Education (Is this like trade school? I can understand K-12, but please explain this)

I'd like these questions answered.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I'd favor some sort of tax credit system rather than the state handing out money, but I'm not sure about the nuances of that, and one of you will most likely explain why that's flawed.

I'd still like an answer to "energy infrastructure" and "vocational education".